Sunday, November 25, 2012

ROM TATA TO FR.TITO (Last part) (November 28, 2011)

BROTHERS IN ACADS_FR. TITO CALUAG WITH SEC. ARMIN LUISTRO OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Vim Nadera: What is your five- or 10-year Development/Master Plan?Fr. Carmelo Caluag: It is simply going back to our founding vision – the mission and identity – and applying it to the present context of our country. The rest will follow since we have solid ground where we are starting the movement for renewal and reform. This is what I have been emphasizing in the recent round of conversations for the planning process: it is renewal first before reform or the changes. I think people get too focused on the change right away and this causes anxiety for some and too many expectations for others.

The
development or master plan is about going back to the founding vision and
discerning how it is to be fine tuned to the changing context. There is a
master plan now crafted less than ten years ago, I think eight or so years
back. I looked at it and even this plan needs a lot of contextualizing after
almost a decade. Much has happened in the field of education and arts and more
so in technology. This last area, technology, has made changes in our context
across various fields move at a rapid pace. For this alone we need to revisit a
master plan again; maybe plan for the next decade, but have periodic re-visits
built into the plan.

The
process for planning is also a possible time for “soul searching” for the
different stakeholders of PHSA in terms of how much we are living out the
values that com e from our founding vision and mission.

VN:
Is there a need to review PHSA's vision and mission? Why?

CC:Let me put the statement in a proper
context. We are reviewing not so much the vision and mission, but their fit, so
to speak, in and with the changing context. For example, ABS-CBN had the
founding inspiration to always be “in the service of the Filipino.” It is
“eternal,” but a few years back it needed to be updated with “in the service of
the Filipino worldwide.” For the Jesuits, the iconic term “men/women-for-
others” was updated almost two decades ago with “men/women-with-and-for-others.”
These examples show how the context in which we live out an organization’s
vision and mission can change. Thus an updating of or improvement on the fit is
necessary.

I
will even say that to periodically review the vision and mission of any
organization, not just PHSA, is necessary for several reasons. One, on a more
long-term period, do they still serve a purpose? Perhaps the mission had been
accomplished and the vision attained; or maybe there is an irrelevance issue.
Two, context always changes. Three, it is process we can use to for
self-evaluation in terms of how we are living out in the day to day the core values
of the organization that flow form the vision and mission.

VN:
How can PHSA be relevant to the aspirations of the Filipino people and nation?

CC:Arts and culture, as my history teacher
in college put it, are the windows to the soul of a people. Part of our
challenge as people is to rediscover and nurture our soul as a people. PHSA has
a role to play here. I hope we can create a network of arts high schools all
over the country.

Let
me share a story about my accepting the work in PHSA. In 2005, I had a guest
from Gonzaga University, Dr. Sandi Wilson. I took her to the Intramuros tour of
Mr. Carlos Celdran. The tour ended in the San Augustine crypt. Mr. Celdran was
talking about the destruction of Manila during liberation. He mentioned that
when Intramuros was destroyed we lost 90% of our cultural heritage and
artifacts (something I validated later with an art historian) and we lost our
spiritual center. The phrase that “haunted” me was what came next after this,
“and we have not recovered since.”

PHSA
can play role in this recovery, to rediscover our soul as a people and find a
way to create spiritual centers to nurture this soul.

Creating
regional high schools can help making PHSA more relevant by becoming a source
of recovery and the movement to rediscover our soul and to nurture it. It can
also bring the possible tool to fulfil the dream – to be an artist – closer to
young people in the provinces when they have regional high schools.

VN:How
were your meetings with the Department of Education officials and other
stakeholders?

CC:DepEd is very supportive. I need to
meet more alumni and more parents. We also need to improve the communication
and the process in the school itself with regard to planning.

DepEd
has been very dynamic the past two years. Their movement towards a K to 12
curriculum supports the efforts we are making. Very specific to PHSA, they have
been encouraging us and giving us a lot of leeway to help develop a
specialized, arts in our case, for the K to 12 program.

VN:
What lesson did you learn from your Singapore and US trips?

CC:Both trips helped me see what we can do
better. Singapore showed me how we can have better facilities for an arts high
school. The US trip showed me how we can improve our boarding school program.

Singapore
also showed me what our competitive edge is as a people – our creativity. This
I think we can harness and create an entire industry that can give employment
and a profession to our people. If we can develop a creativity industry, this
can potentially be a major emerging industry if we pace side-by-side with the K
to 12 development.

VN:
Will you recommend the transfer of PHSA?

CC:Not closure, not transfer. I view it as
expansion to be more relevant. Makiling can – and should remain – as the center
of public school arts education. At the same time, we must also review its (the
campus’) use if the regional high schools will happen – and think they will
with or without PHSA. In fact, they already are opening regional high schools
for the arts independent of PHSA.

If
I may, I end with this. In the effort to plan and develop PHSA, I think we must
make a conscious effort to distinguish between the program of the school and
the campus. I sense we tend to lump the two together.

The
program of PHSA is the core and the campus, though very important, is second
layer, so to speak. As best as we can, Makiling must remain a home to our
student-artists, but at the same time, as we expand into regional high schools
and increase enrolment of students benefitting from a PHSA program, PHSA as a
home to all of these students will thus result in change in terms of how we
will use the campus.

About Me

VICTOR EMMANUEL CARMELO D. NADERA JR.
A Manila Bulletin columnist, Victor Emmanuel Carmelo Nadera Jr. was the youngest director of Likhaan: U.P. Institute of Creative Writing that won the Francisco Balagtas Award (2006) from the National Language Commission. Some of his projects include the text-a-poem contests such as Textanaga (2003), Dalitext (2003), Dionatext (2004), and Textsawikain (2005).He also initiated the first student literary conference called Panitikabataan. Every Tuesday he host the Conspiwriters’ Tuesdays for three years at the Conspiracy Garden Café and O.M.G.: Open Mic Gig every last Monday at Mag:net Gallery (Katipunan). The portal to Philippine literature panitikan.com.ph was his brainchild too like Pistang Panitik or Literary Fiesta which coincides with the annual Manila International Book Fair since 2006. Elected Chairman of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) during its Congress on 25 August 2007, Vim is also the incumbent president of Kapisanan ng May K sa Pilipinas, an umbrella organization of cancer support groups.